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General Theming Contractors Chief Operating Officer Rich Witherspoon, left, and President Steve Urell appear dwarfed by the huge backdrop created by company employees in the firm’s spray paint area.

Scott Rawdon

For Business First

These days, consumers expect a product's marketing to touch them on an emotional level. "It's been more obvious in the last several years. The Limited brands had a lot to do with that," said Steve Urell, president of General Theming Contractors LLC. From designing Victoria's Secret's signature pink wallpaper, to Bass Pro Shops' aged signage and woodwork, Urell's company uses nearly every artistic medium to lure customers into a store and make them feel good about being there.

"The most important thing to do is to marry the customer's emotional response to the brand. They go to your place to experience that emotion," said Urell. "We're dealing on a subconscious level."

Urell said his Columbus-based company works with media-painted murals, signage, three-dimensional props, computer graphics and industrial artistry to create continuity of design.

Starting on a shoestring

From the beginning, Urell wanted to establish a branding company based on the psychology of design. He said he felt the one-stop shop concept would be successful. He and his cousin, Seth Harris, began the company in 1993 with $17,000 given to them by family members.

"We were definitely on a shoestring budget," said Urell.

In its early days, General Theming was an art studio with Urell and Harris painting elaborate murals. "Then we started investing heavily in computers," said Urell. "We were artists with machines, but we were still artists." Eventually, Urell bought his cousin's share of the company.

Since the early 1990s, consumers have become more sophisticated, said Urell. It takes much more than a colorful wall or clever signage to attract them into a store. For example, Bass Pro Shops - one of Urell's clients - features intentionally weathered-looking woodwork and cabinetry, similar to an old hunting cabin. Bubbling streams stocked with bass, trout and other game fish flow through the interior of the building. The store's environment creates a desire to fish, hunt, hike or go boating.

Conveniently, the walls are brimming with outdoor sporting supplies, with shiny new boats gracing the showrooms.

Using psychology

Dennis Gerdeman, principal of Columbus' Chute Gerdeman design firm and developer of brand strategies, says he agrees with Urell that psychology is the key to effective marketing. In fact, marketing begins before the customer even enters the store, he said.

"The store has to have strong curb appeal," he said. "You have to create a story right there, so the customer has expectations ... he starts seeing you as a solutions provider."

Urell says he employs that concept and uses all available media to lead a customer through a store. This concept has helped Urell to develop General Theming Contractors into a $12.5 million company with three studios and nearly 160 employees, he says.

"We try to hire just artists; what sets us apart is that we are artists," he said. Urell affectionately refers to his staff as a motley crew, because his artists don't fit into a stereotypical corporate mold.

"Actually, they're easy to manage if you understand what motivates them," he said.

Generally, artists are moody, intellectual and political people, said Urell, which is what makes them artists. They rarely seek to climb a corporate ladder or establish themselves with an impressive title. They simply want to express themselves artistically and Urell provides them the freedom and facilities to do so. "We breed a culture of pure art," he said.

As consumers grow more sophisticated, so will General Theming Contractors, said Urell, who is particularly excited about creating more three-dimensional props, such as caricatures and oversized bobble-heads, for sports facilities and water parks. His goal is to continue to blur the line between advertising and artistic expression. "The design is part of the product," he said.

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